From the Tech You Didn't Know You Needed department: cold brewed coffee, made in just minutes instead of hours. If you're like me, you had no idea that cold brew coffee takes 12 to 24 hours to steep the grounds to get a good cuppa.
That's using only cold water. The secret behind the new speedy extraction method is ultrasonic sound waves, tech developed by food processing engineers at the University of New South Wales School of Chemical Engineering.
Francisco Trujillo, Shih-Hao Chiu, and Nikunj Nalidhara have developed a system that can be adapted to existing espresso makers like ones from Breville, that injects sound waves at a frequency of 38.8 kiloHertz, creating an ultrasonic reactor out of a standard coffee ground filter basket.
According to Trujillo, the ultrasounds accelerate the extraction process due to acoustic cavitation.
“When acoustic bubbles collapse near the ground coffee, they generate micro-jets with enough force to pit and fracture the coffee grounds – intensifying the extraction of the aroma and flavours of the brew. And the acceleration is enormous – we are reducing what would typically take 12 to 24 hours to less than three minutes.”
There's a commercial application for ultrasonic cold coffee brewed quickly at home and in bars, on-demand, instead of using expensive chiller equipment. Particularly so as the Aussie researchers claim it has the full flavour of the cold brew coffee made overnight.
Expect sonicated coffee to appear soon then, in your nearest hipster Java joint. And tea, as the process can be used for leaves as well.
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